Judge recuses himself from IPL spot-fixing case

One of the judges recused himself from hearing spot-fixing case in Indian Premier League (IPL) here on Friday as he had represented accused Narayanaswami Srinivasan in a case.

Secretary of Cricket Association of Bihar (CAB) and petitioner Aditya Verma, said that the bench constituted for hearing spot-fixing scam will now be changed as one of the judges Justice Rohinton Nariman withdrew from the bench.

Former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) chairman, Narayanaswami Srinivasan, stood down in the wake of the spot-fixing scandal in IPL, which led to the arrest of his son-in-law Gurunath Meiyappan on charges relating to the scandal.

"Justice Rohinton Nariman in the chief justice bench had represented Narayanaswami Srinivasan in the Indian Premier League fixing scam earlier and due to this the bench has separated itself from the case today," said Verma.

Srinivasan's position was deemed untenable in the wake of Meiyappan being indicted for illegal betting on last year's lucrative Twenty20 tournament with the court calling on the powerful cricket administrator to step aside to ensure a fair investigation into the scandal.

IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla had also quit in the wake of the spot-fixing scandal swirling around the tournament.

Earlier, the arrest of three cricketers, including former test bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, had exposed Indian cricket's soft underbelly.

The trio had denied allegations that they took money from bookmakers to concede a pre-determined number of runs in IPL matches but their arrest prompted the police to launch raids for illegal bookmakers across the country.